AUSTIN Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Fugitive Unit arrested four previously convicted sex offenders who violated their parole on Halloween night. The arrests were made during Operation Safe Halloween, a joint effort between the Fugitive Unit and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The crackdown focused on sex predators whose parole conditions required them to avoid young trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

Timothy Lee Carson, 47, of Houston, was arrested on Oct. 31 after he failed to heed his parole officer’s instructions to return to his residence by 5 p.m. on Halloween night. The following day, Fugitive Unit investigators arrested David Gonzalez Galan, 43, of Houston; Cleveland Levell Freeman, 53, of Dallas; and Derrick Wayne Johnson, 33, of Sweeney. All three violated parole by failing to return to their residences by 5 p.m. on Halloween night. The Fugitive Unit arrested the four sex offenders after TDCJ officials issued emergency warrants on Halloween night.

Operation Safe Halloween targeted convicted sex offenders who violated their parole on Halloween night, Attorney General Abbott said. With young Texans out trick-or-treating, these sex predators were ordered to be off the streets and at their houses by 5 p.m. We are grateful to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and local law enforcement for working with the Fugitive Unit to put these sex offenders back behind bars.

Since the Fugitive Unit’s creation in 2003, investigators have made more than 500 arrests in 57 Texas counties, 17 other states, and three cities in Mexico. The arrests include unregistered sex offenders; child sex offenders who violated parole restrictions; violent Louisiana fugitives who fled to Texas during Hurricane Katrina; Texas parolees who fled during the Hurricane Rita evacuation; and sex offenders and other violent offenders arrested through Operation Falcon II, a nationwide roundup of convicted felons-turned-fugitives.

To find out more about Attorney General Abbott's efforts to crack down on sex predators, visit the Attorney General's Web site at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov or call (800) 252-8011.